4 Fun Cleaning Tasks for Kids

A recent study, published by renowned experts studying children’s behavior revealed a scary statistics last month – only 28 percent of all parents around the globe indulge their children in the cleaning of their homes. You might think it’s not a big deal – but you’re wrong. Children who weren’t taught to clean up their mess grow up to become messy college and university students and it’s very likely that they’ll remain messy for life. Surely, you wouldn’t want your kid to live in a home that’s conquered by filth, right?

It turns out that the good parent isn’t one that spares their kid certain efforts, but the person who teaches their children to be able to deal with every aspect of life, including cleaning. As you know, keeping clean is vital for people’s health. So, parents, don’t miss to teach your children the importance of cleaning.

To teach your kids to keep clean, you need to turn cleaning activities into a game. Leading children’s behavior experts revealed that the children are unlikely to respond to “Put the toys in the toy basket.”, but they’ll gladly indulge in the activity if you say “Whoever puts most toys away in the next 30 seconds gets a prize” instead. And that’s why, being inspired by professionals and their advices, I decided to come up with the following list of ways to make cleaning fun for kids. Try them, they really work.

1. Games, games, and more games
Kids love having fun and if you turn household chores into a game, they’ll be more than happy to play their part in keeping the house clean. Instead of telling them to make their bed in the morning, pretend that the bed is a pirate chip that must be conquered. How are you going to conquer it? By eliminating every wrinkle on the bed sheets. And instead of making your kids pick up their toys after playtime, play Beat the clock – this game is ideal for people with more than one children – wins the child who’s collected most toys before the set time ends.

2. Let them do the things they like
You won’t need a lot of time to figure out what your kid likes most – they may like to wash dishes, or sort clothes for laundry. And whenever you can, let them do the thing they love – they’re kids, after all. According to specialists, your kids are more willing to do household chores if you let them do what they like. However, make sure that they are capable of doing various household chores – they’ll thank you when they grow up.

3. Music and dances – clean houses
Put on your kid’s jam and start cleaning. Children love music, especially preschoolers and gradeschoolers. And don’t forget to dance and sing while you clean with them, too. It’s important that you, too, have fun while you’re cleaning, as that way your child will grow up believing that chores are fun.

4. Be creative when you set chores
Just like you, your kids will soon get bored with the mundane chores of washing dishes, setting tables and vacuuming. So, if you want to keep the kids (and yourself) interested in housekeeping, you need to come up with creative chores. I once turned the vacuum cleaner into a dragon and I told the kids that the dragon feeds on garbage and they should feed it – I had remarkable success with that idea.

I hope my cleaning tips and tasks will be of your help. Don’t forget that it’s important to teach your child the importance of keeping clean.